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I discussed this with a friend the other day and today I found this on my suggestion list on Youtube
So, yeah, I think it's an interesting topic to discuss of, expecially if you're old enough to remember the past shows from the eighties and the nineties.

i think we're all born in r/lerightgeneration amirite memefriends B)

Are you asking me if ponies and gemstones are better than The Weekenders and Dexter's Lab as if that's a serious question?

I don't think there's a definitive answer. Every show has something that makes it good and/or bad. Also, we all have different tastes and opinions.

Maybe, if thats your opinion. Theres no generation thats objectively better because your subjective tastes.

And let's not forget about Recess, Fairly Odd Parents and of course, pre-movie Spongebob.

And Courage the Cowardly Dog, Samurai Jack, Teens Titans, the list goes on…

That's just a matter of opinion, back then we had clever and very good shows as well, I think people are getting this impression because of how much popularity Steven Universe/Gravity Falls has got, but I'd say this is mostly because the Internet is an excellent tool to spread the word and find another fans quickly, most likely it would have been the same back then

Well, one good thing about this era of animation is that very few "kids shows" are actually kids shows. Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, Adventure Time etc. appeal to both children and adults more or less equally. I won't say this is the golden age of animation, but it is nice that animation studios have embraced all-ages storytelling.

Pre-movie spongebob is honestly one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. Aside from a couple shows, I don't get most of the shows people love nowadays, especially adventure time. I feel like most of them are, forgive the word, overrated.
Samurai jack, teen titans, and motherfucking justice league were Fucking amazing. Steven universe and adventure time can suck it, I'll watch those instead.

Definitely should have said Recess, a heretic oversight, but SpongeBob has always been obnoxious as fuck.

All ages story telling has been around for decades in cartoons. Batman, justice league, teen titans, samurai jack, the last airbender, etc.
The shows of today aren't really breaking new ground.

Referring to animation, I'd say that currently we have an oversaturation of CalArts animators who, aside from Mr. McCracken, have pretty prosaic art styles. Like when I first saw Gravity Falls, I thought "Hey, J.G. Quintel got another show". I know someone'll say, "it's the style of the decade" or such, but I can instantly look at a piece of John Kricfalusi's work and recognize the artist. I can't say the same for most contemporary animators. Like, Gumball, Sonic Boom, and Ninjago are the only CN shows that discern from the style. In terms of writing, I'd say that we also have too much of that "extremely ditzy and cute" character trope. These including, Wander, Mabel Pines, Greg (from Over the Garden Wall), and Star Butterfly. Most of their dialogue feels sloppy and any emotion their given feels forced. So in general, I'd say there would be a slight but noticeable decline in quality, at least in the animation department. Don't watch that much live-action aside from Ned's Declassifed, so I couldn't say anything about that. And before anyone replies with some 90's Nick gif, I should point out that I was born in '99, ergo not a 90's kid. So that's just my 2¢.

Except the shows of today really are breaking new ground, in my opinion. A lot of shows today are embracing the idea of overarching storylines and story archs, which just didn't exist in western cartoons save for Last Airbender and the occasional 2-part storyline in various other shows. Not to mention shows today are opening themselves up to discussing complicated topics that no show would dare talk about in the 90s. The medium is changing and progressing every day, and to say there's nothing ground breaking right now is unfair.

Based on my personal taste, I think cartoons today are better than they were in the 90s. 90s cartoons had their day in the sun, and they did a lot to define and change the medium to say the least. But when it comes down to it I enjoy watching modern cartoons in my spare time. I just don't find myself too inclined to watch the old cartoons of my childhood save for the occasional vintage Spongebob episode.

The concept isn't new. You could go all the way back to the Flintstones for that. However, the amount we are seeing it is a sign of the times. It's looking like all ages is now the rule, rather than the exception.

IMO: animation has never been good.

If you're making a cartoon, it's better to do something funny and make creative use of the impossible that animation provides.

When I watch cartoons, I mostly wonder "Why the hell is this animated?". People seem to love dragging stories that are bland and uncreative in their animation. Writers and viewers do not seem care about the principles and wackiness the animation has, and the wonders it can create.

Cartoons are a form of visual humour, not a form of story telling.

I'm going to leave it there, as I could rant all day. But 'eh? I can't say shite 'till I get my 1st animation done.

Crimson, the shows I just mentioned as well as others had all that you mentioned. Samurai Jack had an episode that delt with slavery and an episode where a man turned monster was waiting to be killed by a worthy warrior just so he could pass into the afterlife. Not to mention the excellent episodes and stories from DC cartoons.
The best of the 1990s and 2000s hasn't been matched really in my opinion. Though the clone wars cartoon was actually pretty Damn good from what I saw.
I haven't seen much of Steven universe, but if adventure time is an example of some of the best they have to offer at the moment, I'll stick with the past.

Ehh, I agree to an extent. It's still possible to tell a story and have intriguing visuals with animation. But I can definitely say that shows that don't utilize the privileges of animation,such as King of the Hill or The Simpsons, tend to repel me. But there still has to be coherency (even Uncle Grandpa understands this), otherwise you get crap like this.

{ A lot of shows today are embracing the idea of overarching storylines and story archs, which just didn’t exist in western cartoons }

I think you could argue some of them did. 90s cartoons were really episodic, like a sitcom, but they had themes and characters that continued through the entire series and most of them had a constant/logical flow of events. Recess being a good example to bring back up. Look at the list of minor characters from the show. It's so long because there are so damn many, but they all appear consistently and you're expected to remember them from last time you saw them/etc, that's why they're all considered minor characters. It's modern US cartoons that are moving away from episodic and more toward the prime time drama formula. I wouldn't even really call it a story arc sort of style like you'd think of in anime, more of a hybrid between episodic and story arcs.

Now thats a dumb mentality. "one show thats said to be really good isn't that must mean all shows this generation are bad".
Lets see, besides adventure time we have: Gravity Falls, Star vs The Forces of Evil, SU, The Amazing World Of Gumball, Regular Show, Clarence, We Bare Bears, and Harvey Beaks all showing off the amazing works this decade of animation has to offer. Sure, those shows bvack then were great, but basing off of only those is plain dumb, those times had plenty of bad cartoons. This is truly one of the only times that I can safely say we have no bad cartoons. (hell TTO and Uncle Grandpa have some good episodes too.)

Dac wrote:

I haven’t seen much of Steven universe, but if adventure time is an example of some of the best they have to offer at the moment, I’ll stick with the past.

I'm gonna let you in on a secret: I don't like Adventure Time. It's an ok show, I enjoyed it for a short time, but it got old for me real fast and I haven't seen more than a handful of episodes. It helped pull Cartoon Network out of its dark days, but it is far from the best show modern cartoons have to offer. If you're going to pass on all the good shows we have right now based on just Adventure Time, then I think you're making a mistake

I know this is a thread about kids shows, but I think it's also worth mentioning that even adult animation has started stepping up its game with shows like Rick & Morty and Bojack Horseman

The mid 80s and late 90s/early 00s are the supreme eras for kids shows.

I think "visual emotion" is more appropriate, since humor is only one of the many emotions that a cartoons can carry. Almost everything is highly exagerated in cartoons (the expressions of the characters, their reactions. How you can tell the morality and the personality of a person just by looking at him/her/it) because cartoons don't pretend to be realistic, and pretty often they slap that concept in your face, intentionally or unintentionally, which on the long distance is a win.
Realistic shows tend to get old soon as the progress of science and technology spoil the evident gaps in the supposed realism.
Cartoons avoid that process easyly because they are mostly not meant to be taken seriously. And the few ones that are, become ridiculus but in an amusing way.

Asking for a general opinion on which era is better is a completely subjective matter.

Both eras had shows that dealt with heavy issues and good storylines.

It is a dumb mentality, and one I don't adhere to. I've seen a fair amount of cartoons from this day and age. From the Looney tunes show to gravity falls, phineas and ferb to my little pony, legend of korra to clone wars. There are great shows, but I don't think this is a golden age of animation. I think that the past has had much better shows. Still, plenty of shows today are great, I just don't think it's right to say that cartoons are better than ever now.

Also, I am aware that shit existed back then, that's how it always is. Sturgeon's law and all that jazz. That's not a valid argument against that past. I'm sure you could think of more than a couple shows from today that are cancer.